LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for ELCANEWS Archives


ELCANEWS Archives

ELCANEWS Archives


ELCANEWS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

ELCANEWS Home

ELCANEWS Home

ELCANEWS  April 2008

ELCANEWS April 2008

Subject:

Lutherans Prepare for First Anniversary of Virginia Tech Shooting

From:

[log in to unmask]

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:39:29 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (102 lines)

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 10, 2008  

Lutherans Prepare for First Anniversary of Virginia Tech Shooting
08-043-BMC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Student Movement at Virginia
Tech is providing opportunities for growth while bracing for the
media attention of the first anniversary of the worst campus
shooting in U.S. history.
     On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman killed 32 faculty and
students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
in Blacksburg, Va., before killing himself.
     The Rev. William H. King said the greatest anxiety he hears
among students as the first anniversary of the shooting
approaches is the media attention. According to King, the feeling
on campus is "Here come the (news) trucks again."
     King serves as one of the campus pastors at Luther Memorial
Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) located across the street from the
Virginia Tech campus.
     Mark Meyer, 22, a third-year junior majoring in mechanical
engineering, said the campus became a media headquarters
overnight. "Individually, we talked to several reporters, but
after a few days that became intrusive," said Meyer. He noted
that "the media coverage was not exactly matching what I was
experiencing."
     For many students, fresh media attention means revisiting
traumatic memories.
     Virginia Tech student Betsy Potter, 22, said that life on
campus immediately after the shooting felt like "a fishbowl" with
all of the media. "There'd be people crying at memorials and
others taking pictures of them," said Potter.
     Potter added that Virginia Tech students felt supported by
Lutheran Student Movement (LSM) chapters nationwide. "It was
amazing how many other LSM (groups) sent notes from all over the
country," she said.
     When students returned for classes in the fall, they were in
very different places, said the Rev. Joanna Stallings, campus
pastor, Luther Memorial. Many students were "through with (the
shooting) and didn't want to hear another word about it," she
said.
     "The most important thing we did as a community was
worship," said Stallings. Students gather weekly on Tuesday
evenings for a meal and worship at the student center, and
participate in Luther Memorial's Sunday services.
     King said, "When push came to shove, it was the worship that
provided those words of comfort -- the needful, healing things
that people were yearning for. There were no answers that were
going to explain this."
     Meyer said that the campus ministry's programs and spiritual
aspects drew him in. "The big reason I kept coming back was that
I got to know people and we became friends," he said.
     In addition to attending to spiritual needs of LSM members
and the local community, the tragedy provided an unexpected
opportunity for public ministry on a national level.
     The day after the shooting, King was asked to offer words
from the Christian tradition to comfort a diverse community at
the Virginia Tech Convocation, which included speeches by
Virginia Tech faculty member Nikki Giovanni and U.S. President
George W. Bush.
     "I took a lot of heat for not mentioning Jesus in that
convocation," said King of the nationally broadcast event. King
felt it was important to provide pastoral care for the entire
university community at that event, rather than make a
confessional statement.
     That evening, King and three other pastors led a joint
worship service for members of the Virginia Tech LSM and two ELCA
congregations in Blacksburg, Luther Memorial and St. Michael
Lutheran Church. "That was the place where we brought the Word
into reality, saying, 'This is horrible, but the Psalmist has
dealt with this in a lament. This is mysterious, but Scripture
does speak to this situation of grief,'" King recounted.
     In the months afterward, King said he revisited the theology
of the cross, a paradox from Martin Luther's teachings that
states that God is revealed and God is also hidden in times of
suffering. "Now I'm beginning to get a sense of what it's all
about. In the midst of this, God is faithful, but there are also
lots of loose ends that flop around."
     "I would never ever say that God did this to Virginia Tech,"
said King, but, through the experience of pain and suffering at
Virginia Tech, the community has been opened to other people's
pain around the world.
     King compared the task to preaching at a funeral: "The
gospel matters in that moment or it doesn't matter at all.
There's a bracing clarity in that moment."
     "I sense that our students do not want their Virginia Tech
experience to be dominated by this particular event. People
acknowledge the loss. They're not in denial. They just don't want
to be defined by that event," said King.
---
     "Naming the Pain, Speaking of Hope: Considerations
for Religious Address in Time of Crisis" by the Rev.
William H. King, published in the May 2007 issue of
Journal of Lutheran Ethics is at
http://www.ELCA.org/jle/article.asp?k=721 on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
November 2018
October 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
July 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999
March 1999
February 1999
January 1999
December 1998
November 1998
October 1998
September 1998
August 1998
July 1998
June 1998
May 1998
April 1998
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997
November 1997
October 1997
September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
June 1997
May 1997
April 1997
March 1997
February 1997
January 1997
December 1996
November 1996
October 1996
September 1996
August 1996
July 1996
June 1996
May 1996
April 1996
March 1996
February 1996
January 1996

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager